INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[chisNchickens]

I'd probably take in the Araucanas if you need it but not so sure the ducks will fit in

Hi. The campines are chickens. Very rare breed. I need to get some pics. I'll let you know soon on the araucanas.
Also, if anyone is interested I have turkeys available. Around five months I believe. They are blue slate and Bourbon red mixes.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Well, I still feel like a truck ran me over thanks to this miserable cold, but I did do quite well on my tests in spite of it! The bio test went... okay. 80% on that one, not quite as good as I hoped but I'm good with it after hearing that the class average was less than 50%. As for the German test, drumroll please... 100%!! I couldn't believe it when I saw it!

For what I am doing, hatchery stock is more that suitable.  I'm just dabbling.  A friend of mine in Wisconsin has some Dorkings and some Icies that he likes quite well.  He got them from Sandhill, and is quite happy with them.  He was going to send me home with two icie hens, but when I was up there last I wasn't coming straight home and had a rental car, so it wasn't really going to work.  Glad to hear they work for you.  See mixed reports on them, even from hatchery stock.  He gets roughly the same 3-5 a week from his dorkings and his are actually the red. 

Sex-linked deladorks.  I can't hardly believe that wouldn't be an exceptional table bird for those who like to dabble in the heritage breeds and do a little backyard mad ornithological scientist.  No, they wouldn't be the fast-growing feed-converting machines that the cornishX is, but I can't believe it wouldn't be a quality meat bird given the reputation of each as table birds. 

But I could be wrong.  I'm just a neophyte. 

Aw, yeah, I have seen some less than stellar reviews of them as well. Unfortunately, with such a rare breed of which haphazardly bred hatchery stock represents a large portion of the individuals, there are bound to be mixed reviews. :/ My two have definitely made an impression and the Dorking is my absolute favorite breed now, beating out Plymouth Rocks even though I do quite adore both breeds. But, like with the Rocks, Dorkings definitely need more devoted breeders of good stock to maintain the birds that many have grown to love, which is why Dorkings have at least two pens, maybe three, already reserved in my far future breeder barn. Stepping off my Dorking soapbox now...

As for your sexlinked DelaDorks, a lot of people are swayed by that high feed conversion of the production-bred birds, but I think you're right, they would probably appeal to the average backyard enthusiast. Especially them being sexlinked, I would imagine you'd make a lot of spring sales in pullets at the very least, though you'd end up with a lot of excess cockerels to deal with in that case... Still, you never know until you try. Personally, I'd say go for it.

Facing another round with my Mom at the heart hospital. She was to have a torn rotator cup repaired that lead to regular pre op evaluation. They found she had a murmur in 2 heart valves, 1 is severe. Totally a shock. So now the rotator cup surgeries are off the table. Since she is on dialysis, was turned down as an open heart candidate for surgery, there is an intravienous procedure that may be done. More tests... I can tell Mom is tired of tests.
Her only option due to her health, so we are waiting for the next CT scan of her veins to see if the procedure is even possible. Dr. Storey asked me to please get a 2nd surgeons opinion. I will absolutely do so, and I really trust this Doctor knowing his stuff. He has saved my dads and oldest brothers life the last 2 years, just an amazing surgeon. If not, Mom will go into hospice as this type of heart disease is fast and fatal.
Please, pray for my Mom, Sally Miller. Mom and Dad have been married 57 years.

Keeping my thoughts with your family.

 

[daskhan]

I

Hi.  The campines are chickens.  Very rare breed. I need to get some pics.  I'll let you know soon on the araucanas.
Also, if anyone is interested I have turkeys available.  Around five months I believe. They are blue slate and Bourbon red mixes.

in that case I'll take the combines too possibly some turkeys..
Ill pm you

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Oh and brought home the rescued muscovy drake last week. He's adjusting really well. I just think he's a beaut too!

Gorgeous pied! My white drake is doing great also.

Quote:
I seem to get a high rate of females here, I usually wind up needing boys.

Been busy living life, but here's my flock update:

Cuddles was very ill back in Sept. Never figured out if it was cocci, worms, or some other bug, but she' back to her normal self. Great to have my sweet girl entertaining again. She learned a new magic trick that we hope to have perfected by Thanksgiving. Also, her molt is finishing up, so she'll be looking beautiful soon.



With all the beautiful purebred Orps we raised, my son picked out a mix as his fav. At one point we had 30 chicks & he kept choosing the same one to play with. (a Coro Sussex x Lav Orp) Here is "Nemo," his pet chicken. She went on a bike ride with him 2 days ago. I wish I had the camera as I saw him riding down the sidewalk with a chicken on his handle bars.

Nemo earlier this summer






My daughter is the reason we actually have chickens. She enjoys hatching & always finds new science project ideas that of course require her to incubate more eggs. Since I'm the one buying the eggs, I tend to pick my fav breeds. LOL It's hard but necessary to rehome most of the hatch results. We hatched some beautiful, jaw-dropping orps from Kittydoc, but DD falls in love with a mix from our own flock. Here's Nemo's sister: Sweetie




For a few years my daughter's been asking for a Dominique but I haven't been able to find local breeders. We incubated 10 shipped eggs & got ONE Dom chick. DD also fell in love with a little Sebright, so we kept both to see how they'd turn out. Both are female. They are fun because they are so DIFFERENT from the flock.
When I call, they don't do the normal chicken waddle/run. They fly! I was afraid they'd be skittish & flighty, but they flt TO me not away. Because they are small, they don't bother scratching around on the ground with the other chickens. Instead, they fly up to a nearby branch (or sometime my shoulder) and demand to be hand fed. Technically, I only agreed to keep the Dom, but DD argues that the Sebright is so small it shouldn't be counted as a chicken.

Cuddles looks great! Glad she has recovered. Loved all the pics!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Thanks for the PMs and well wishes guys.

 

[pbirdhaven]

Facing another round with my Mom at the heart hospital. She was to have a torn rotator cup repaired that lead to regular pre op evaluation. They found she had a murmur in 2 heart valves, 1 is severe. Totally a shock. So now the rotator cup surgeries are off the table. Since she is on dialysis, was turned down as an open heart candidate for surgery, there is an intravienous procedure that may be done. More tests... I can tell Mom is tired of tests.
Her only option due to her health, so we are waiting for the next CT scan of her veins to see if the procedure is even possible. Dr. Storey asked me to please get a 2nd surgeons opinion. I will absolutely do so, and I really trust this Doctor knowing his stuff. He has saved my dads and oldest brothers life the last 2 years, just an amazing surgeon. If not, Mom will go into hospice as this type of heart disease is fast and fatal.
Please, pray for my Mom, Sally Miller. Mom and Dad have been married 57 years.

Prayers and positive energy coming your way.

Well, I still feel like a truck ran me over thanks to this miserable cold, but I did do quite well on my tests in spite of it!

The bio test went... okay. 80% on that one, not quite as good as I hoped but I'm good with it after hearing that the class average was less than 50%. As for the German test, drumroll please... 100%!! I couldn't believe it when I saw it!

Great job on the exams, especially trying to study when you feel like crap! Been fighting a cold here also; haven't had one this bad in years, so I can certainly sympathize.

 

[daskhan]

What I do when I'm sick is take a cap of night quile and sleep late into the day

 

[chickiebaby1]

We actually tried hatching only rounded eggs & passing on the pointy eggs = found no difference. A hen that lays bullet eggs, always lays bullet shaped eggs. However, we accidentally discovered that some specific hens had mostly female offspring. One hen had 8 females & only 2 males from her eggs. We also had 2 other hens with 70% or more female offspring. From one of our favorite hens we hatched 2 females & 6 males. (And, her eggs are very round!) The remaining 3 hens were closer to the 50/50 or 60/40 that we expected. I wanted my daughter to continue exploring this, but she had other ideas. Also, our sample of 7 hens is not really conclusive of anything. (Could it be the specific hens, the egg storage, the breed, time of year, hen's diet, hen's age?) It's more likely just luck. I just noticed that we were one of the exceptions who always hatch more females than males. We often don't get 100% hatch rates, so perhaps all the ones that didn't make it were the males.

I have something like that going on. But it's a breed thing. I hatched over 20 large fowl cochin eggs over the spring and I only got one male. Which is good because I needed a new boy, but I just found it odd that all the others turned out to be females. Probably won't happen again next spring, because both the mamma's were lost to predator attacks over the summer. It will be interesting to see if they passed that on to their girls though. Only time will tell.......

 

[chisNchickens]

I have something like that going on. But it's a breed thing. I hatched over 20 large fowl cochin eggs over the spring and I only got one male. Which is good because I needed a new boy, but I just found it odd that all the others turned out to be females. Probably won't happen again next spring, because both the mamma's were lost to predator attacks over the summer. It will be interesting to see if they passed that on to their girls though. Only time will tell.......

Hey Chickie I also raise silkies and ameraucanas, as well as the occasional EE and OEs (I read your signature). Yesterday I found the most intense blue egg I've ever seen. Came from an EE pullet. My husband picked out three EE chicks for me at RK and all three ended up being pullets and gorgeous!! And now this egg! Love my EEs as well as my purebred Ams.

 

[Mother2Hens]

You could do some "easy countertop sprouts" for some greens:

http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2012/12/easy-ways-to-sprout-seeds-for-your.html

Just throw them on the ground or coop floor for them to scratch for.



Or grow some in bags like @Kassaundra does:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...sprouts-to-feed-the-chickens/390#post_9918936

Video by @Kassaundra

ETA: These can be made in old cotton pillow cases that you can pick up at goodwill or resale stores.

Invert the bags on a post pounded into the ground - instant feeder and boredom aleviator

Great ideas, @Leahs Mom ! I like the pillowcase sprout idea for winter because I would be too worried about sprouts-n-mold in the warm months. Your ideas reminded of some that I put together the summer before last. As I recall, @ChickCrazed was looking for ways to keep her chickens from being bored, so I apparently had some extra time on my hands to compile these lists. haha I'd rather do chicken-related graphics than my real job.